It’s not often I get enthused about anything to do with making meals. I’m of the mind that I’ve been there, done that way too many times. But thanks to my good friend, Carolyne Aarsen (http://www.carolyneaarsen.com/) I’ve recently changed my mind.

She told me about the Instant Pot.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0073GIN08/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1977604522&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00FLYWNYQ&pf_rd_m=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&pf_rd_r=GC4JSEGV08Z0W4RMDNG2

This lovely little thing is electric pressure cooker, steamer, slow cooker. I guess you can even make yogurt in it but seeing as I avoid dairy products in any great amount I haven’t tried.

What I have tried and love is:

1. Baked beans. Instructions say you don’t have to soak them but I boil and soak an hour then it takes less than an hour to ‘bake’ them to perfection at pressure.

2. Stews. The flavor is beyond compare. I get comments (good ones) from even the hardest to impress.

3. Potatoes. I’d buy it for this alone. I set the pot to pressure and set the times (about 12 mins.) and walk away and leave it. No pot watching and NO BOILING OVER ON THE STOVE.

4. Scalloped potatoes. Yummy, fast and no mess.

5. Chili.

6. Today I am making a lentil chili mixture.

Did I mention it has a timer so you can set it to come on at a given time? Did I mention it has a keep warm feature. Last Sunday I set a casserole to cook knowing it would take about 30 minutes to reach pressure (I had the pot as full as it is to go) and 20 min. to cook. When it was done, the pressure went down and the warm feature kicked in. When we got home from church, it was cooked and hot.

There aren’t a lot of recipes given in the instruction booklets but there are plenty on-line. Mostly it’s a matter of experimenting.

Barely a day has gone by since I purchased this that I haven’t used it for something.